David Hockney is one of the most significant artists exploring and pushing the boundaries of figurative art today. He has been engaged in portraiture since his teenage years when he painted 'Portrait of My Father' (1955), his self portrait, and portraits of family, lovers, friends and well-known subjects represent an intimate visual diary of the artist's life.
This authoritative new study examines Hockney's portraits in all media -- painting, drawing, photographs, and prints -- and is produced in closer collaboration with the artist. Together the authors reveal how Hockney's creative development and concerns about representation can be traced through his portrait work: from his battles with naturalism, to his experimentation with, and later rejection of, photography, and his recent lucida drawings to his return to painting from life. Featuring over 250 works from the past 50 years, 'David Hockney Portraits' illustrates not only the range of his creative practice but also the circular nature of his artistic pre-occupations.
